Thursday, March 26, 2015

Dan Donovan and Vinny Gentile Taking and Delivering Early Campaign Shots about Race and Racism as their New York 11th Congressional District Race Heats Up

Gentile camp quickly plays the race card in attempt to inflame the black voters in the district — Gentile also makes an outrageous proposal about some method of secret consultations with the 11th CD’s only black elected official if he is elected to congress — Gentile’s paid City Council Staffer behind the whole “race baiting” storyDonovan is a little disingenuous playing a virginal Snow White to Vinny’s Wicked Queen in the whole kerfuffle

The special election race has hardly started and the Democratic Candidate Vincent Gentile camp has poisoned the atmosphere with a vile brew of purely race-based politics of the kind that has become altogether too common for Democrats in the age of Obama. NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION — Dan Donovan wasn’t too cool about any of it, either.

According to a recent report in the Huffington post, “... [a] dispute between the two candidates vying to replace disgraced Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) escalated on Tuesday, with the campaign of Democratic candidate Vincent Gentile accusing Republican Daniel Donovan of ‘doubling down on race-baiting.’...” (See “Eric Garner Prosecutor Accused Of ‘Doubling Down On Race-Baiting' In Congressional Campaign” by some staff guy, 3/24/15, Huffington Post [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/24/eric-garner-vinnie-gentile-daniel-donovan-race-baiting_n_6933660.html]).

GENTILE’S “RESPONSE” WAS A CALCULATED AND LONG-AGO-PLANNED KICK IN THE BALLS

The comments by the Gentile Campaign were done as a so-called “ response” to a fund raising E-Mail that Donovan’s campaign sent to Donovan supporters last week, which contained the subject line: “Al Sharpton Coming After Dan, we need your help!." The Donovan campaign E-Mail supposedly quoted a member of Sharpton's National Action Network criticizing Donovan.

It should be noted that much of the information contained in the Huffington Post piece, cited above, appears to have largely come from an earlier article that had appeared in the New York Observer by a former local Brooklyn beat writer Ross Barkan (See “Eric Garner Prosecutor’s Campaign Warns Al Sharpton Is ‘Coming After’ Him” by Ross Barkan, 3/19/15, NY Observer [http://observer.com/2015/03/eric-garner-prosecutors-campaign-warns-al-sharpton-is-coming-after-him/]). That is important to note, because the Barkan-NY Observer piece is obviously heavily sourced from Justin Brannan, who is both identified and ultimately quoted in Barkan’s final condemnatory passages, as follows: “...Gentile’s campaign said Mr. Donovan should be 'ashamed of himself,' calling the email race-baiting at its ‘worst.’ *** ‘Dan Donovan should really be ashamed of himself for using this cowardly tactic,’ said Justin Brannan, a spokesman for Mr. Gentile, in a statement. ‘This is race baiting at its worst. In a time when everyone in New York City should be encouraging a sense of community and trust, Dan Donovan is purposely driving a racial wedge between voters.’ *** ‘It’s a despicable thing for anyone to do but especially unbecoming of an elected official,’ he added....”

Brannan, who has pushed the “Donovan doubling-down on his race-baiting...” story for over a week to multiple media outlets and directly to many Brooklyn Democrats via a Twitter feed, is the long-time Chief of Staff of Councilman Gentile.

DONOVAN’S RESPONSIVE BUT OVER THE TOP RESPONSE

The Huffington post article noted Dan Donovan’s responses to the Gentile camp’s charges of racism: “I don’t think anyone should put race in the race, for lack of a better way of saying it.... Race has nothing to do with this election.... I would hope that people would respect that Eric Garner’s mother lost a son, his wife lost a husband his children lost a dad.... And I hope that no one would use his death and the tragedy and circumstances surrounding that in a political election.”

THE GENTILE-BRANNAN SUR-RESPONSE

Gentile’s campaign quickly sur-responded that Donovan’s remarks were proof that he wasn’t fit for office. Again, it was Justin Brannan that was in the middle of everything. — Gentile campaign spokesperson Justin Brannan said the following in a statement to the Huffington Post: “The only thing more disgusting than race-baiting is doubling down on race-baiting.... But sadly these are the types of deceptive and unsubstantiated tactics a desperate candidate with zero legislative experience and a do-nothing record will employ.... It’s not only hateful, but it's insulting to the voters... [t]he hardworking people of New York's 11th Congressional District deserve better than this -- they deserve an open and honest debate on the issues that matter and they deserve a leader, not a demagogue calling shots from the same tired and divisive national Republican playbook." [Hmmm ! “... the same tired and divisive national Republican playbook...” — Seriously ? I mean SERIOUSLY !]

GENTILE’S INITIAL REMARKS WERE A LITTLE SELECTIVE — THAT’S WHAT I THINK

I don’t expect Vinny Gentile or his people to just throw in the cards in what looks like a one-sided game in favor of Dan Donovan, but several things appear to have gotten lost in the shuffle and cut before the first hand has even been looked at, much less played, by either Gentile or Donovan. First, Donovan’s fund raising E-mail only mentioned Sharpton as a small piece among several other reasons to help out the Donovan Campaign. Specifically, the fund-raising E-Mail, sent from Ron Carara, Mr. Donovan’s campaign manager, claimed that various left-wing radicals were attacking Mr. Donovan, trying to hurt him and attempting to derail the Donovan Campaign. The radicals mentioned in the E-Mail included Occupy Wall Street activists, Mr. Sharpton’s National Action Network and even Mayor deBlasio.

DAN DONOVAN IS MISCAST AS SNOW WHITE OR ANY OTHER INGENUE — THAT’S WHAT I THINK

On the other hand, it is obviously and absolutely ridiculous for Dan Donovan to try to get away with this: “... Race has nothing to do with this election....” —> WHY DOES HE THINK THAT HE IS SO POPULAR THROUGHOUT MOST OF STATEN ISLAND AND THE SOUTHWEST PART OF BROOKLYN ? <— IT SURE AIN’T HIS GOOD LOOKS AND SEEMINGLY POTENT “BACHELOR LIFESTYLE” – NOR HIS ROCK-RIBBED CONSERVATIVE-REPUBLICANISM ! ! ! (BTW, ALL OF THAT WAS QUITE SARCASTIC.... ).

SO FAR SOME MISSED ISSUES BECAUSE OF —> EVERYBODY’S <— RACE STUFF

Since I think both sides have decided to double-down on their respective this, that or the other stuff involving race and racism — Donovan has so far gotten away with a major gaffe about what he can’t do to help many of the Sandy victims in his Staten Island DA jurisdiction or “his” future Staten Island-SW Brooklyn congressional district. And nobody seemed to catch Vinny G's promise that. if elected to congress, he would give special entre, and to hold behind closed door meetings with certain Staten Island Democrat elected officials that nobody else will ever hear about. It's especially interesting that he singled out his City Council colleague, Debi Rose. I wonder why he said this — it seems kind of well, stupid — unless it has some special meaning, which I'm sure it does.

24 comments:

Anonymous
said...

This disgraceful and unbecoming behavior falls entirely at the feet of the Dan Donovan campaign. You err terribly in placing any blame on the Vinny for Congress campaign. Justin Brannon, Chris McCreight and Jamie Kemmerer are three of the most honorable and dedicated public servants in Brooklyn politics today. I have seen their work first-hand. It is shameful that Dan Donovan would stoop to the level of Joe Hynes campaign race-baiting in his effort to win election. It is also interesting that whenever there is the stirring up of racial communal fears in Brooklyn, issuing ethnic slurs and seeking to polarize Black and white constituents the Brooklyn Young Republicans can always be found not far away skulking around doing their part to foment more hate. The BYR's Sgt. Schultz and Gomer Pyle's evil twin should be taken to task for their role in denigrating Mr.Gentile because of his ethnicity. They have repeatedly been allowed run amuck with their racism and hatred toward others. Bob Turner was on to them and quickly disavowed them. Hopefully, Donovan will too.

I'm no fan of Gentile but you're wrong on this one, Galewyn. Gentile said on NY1 that he's never even met Al Sharpton and Sharpton said several times on camera that he as "no interest" in this race.

Donovan's team threw the first punch here by invoking Sharpton, de Blasio and the "radical left" in that fundraising email sent a few hours after yet another piece of Garner news. It was badly timed and ill-advised. It IS the very same playbook as Grimm v Recchia. They tied Recchia to de Blasio and meanwhile Recchia was an ardent Quinn supporter!

RESPONSE: THE "SO MUCH TO DEAL WITH SO LITTLE TIME -- SO, LET'S DO A SHOW TUNE" EDITION

MY OTHER-SIDE-OF-AISLE BSIs ARE IN REVOLT AND THAT'S JUST A REVOLTING DEVELOPMENT

Obviously, I can't agree with this rhetorical formulation by "Anonymous... 5:29 AM: "This disgraceful and unbecoming behavior falls entirely at the feet of the Dan Donovan campaign...." Inasmuch as I described plenty of less than praiseworthy behavior by the Gentile folks, I can't sign onto their trope of complete blamelessness in the very early exchange of political nuclear weapons so charged with racially-tinged dog-whistle slogans and concepts.

On the other hand, I did receive a long and detailed E-mail from one of the key players that questioned my fairness, and showed his view of the Gentile-Donovan race-baiting issue chronology. My formal answer was that the argument(s) should have been made as a sub-post comment, like some of the other on the issue, which already have appeared on this thread.

In any case, as Lionel Bart once said through his "Fagin" character, borrowed from Dickens: "I'm reviewing the situation...."; and "... I think I'd better think it out, again...."

I had to laugh when i read Brannan, McCreight, and Kemmerer are three of the most honorable and dedicated public servants in Brooklyn politics. However, I also had to laugh when i read about the Brooklyn Young Republicans just being mentioned in anything relevant to Brooklyn politics today. If i put Brannan, McCreight, Kemmerer and the BYR's together do i still even get half a loaf?

THE FOLLOWING IS THE E-MAIL TEXT OF THE SOLICITATION FROM THE DONOVAN CAMPAIGN THAT CAUSED MANY MEMBERS OF THE GENTILE CAMP TO CLAIM THAT DAN DONOVAN AND HIS CAMPAIGN WERE "DOUBLING DOWN" ON THE RACIALIZED RHETORIC OF PRIOR GOP STATEN ISLAND CAMPAIGNS

READ IT AND MAKE YOUR OWN DETERMINATION

According to the report of Ross Barkan in the New York Observer cited in the main post above, the Donovan campaign E-Mailed a fund raising solicitation to various “supporters” on March 19th; and the same Ross Barkan report indicated that immediately the Gentile folks said that “... Mr. Donovan should be ‘ashamed of himself,’ calling the email race-baiting at its ‘worst.’...”

Read what follows and see what YOU think about it: __________________________________

Dear Friend,

Well, it didn't take long but the radical Left is now attacking Dan, and we need your help. Just the other day Occupy Wall Street woke up to Dan's momentum and started a social media attack telling their followers to "get him."

At the same time, a recent news article revealed Al Sharpton's National Action Network is working under the radar and doing their best to hurt Dan's campaign. They were quoted saying they have to "tread delicately" because they know how divisively they are perceived on Staten Island and in Brooklyn.

And tonight, our opponent is having a fundraiser hosted by Bill de Blasio; it's no surprise he's having his pals open their wallets for him. Our opponent voted with him 99% of the time. He will be the same rubber-stamp for President Obama and Nancy Pelosi.

Let's send these far-left ideologues a message that confirms how strong Dan's support is.

We don't need fringe agitators like Occupy Wall Street and Al Sharpton dictating what's best for our nation or the 11th congressional district.

Time is of the essence. Our first filing is just over a week away! Anything you can contribute now will help us beat back these reckless attacks.

Your donation of $10, $25, $50, $100, $250, $500 or $1000 or whatever you're able to give, will make a tremendous impact. EVERY DOLLAR COUNTS!

Hi Gale. I read the Dan Donovan letter you posted but I cannot seem to find your retraction of your claim that Vinny Gentile and his campaign staff instigated the race baiting. I'll read it again. I am sure I missed your correction to your initial conclusion.

I also cannot find anywhere your denunciation of the hate-mongering tactics of the Brooklyn Young Republicans. The BYR's leaders openly mock the elderly, make fun of disabled children, insult fist generation immigrants and foment hatred toward other ethnic groups. And Congressional candidate Dan Donovan has embraced them. Do you?

RESPONSE: THE "...NOR ARE YOU, OR ANYBODY ELSE, LIKELY TO GET SUCH AN APOLOGY FOR THAT POST OR THE REST OF IT" EDITION

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME ? ARE YOU KIDDING ME ? --- YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME, BECAUSE THERE AIN'T NOBODY ELSE HERE...." [WELL, IT'S A NEAR QUOTE OF TRAVIS BICKEL]

I'm pretty sure that in th post above, I never said that either my cousin Vinny or anybody else in the Gentile camp initiated anything.

Besides, you are interfering with very delicate "secret" negotiations between two of my specially selected BSIs to get a "pitch perfect" version of this story that is also acceptable and seen as "fair" as far as "some" in the the Gentile camp are concerned.

The Gentile camp instead of worrying about whether Donovan embraces a few irrelevant degenerates, should have bigger fish to fry namely asking themselves why haven't the majority of the Staten Island Democratic elected officials actively embraced there efforts so far.

Namely Assemblyman Michael Cusick and State Senator Diane Savino, this shouldn't be too hard to figure out why for the Gentile camp.

CORRECTING SOMEBODY'S CORRECTION: THE "WHAT'S IN A NAME... AND IN AN 'EMBRACE' " EDITION

PLEASE, IF YOU FEEL THE NEED TO "CORRECT" SOMEBODY --- TRY TO BE ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW, AND UP AND UP YOURSELF

Although there are some Eastern European Celts, some of whose names might include a "Cusiak" or two; however, the Staten Island Democratic Assemblymember is named "Michael Cusick," who is from a long line of Staten Island Democrats descended from Irish-Celt Cusicks.

Also on your main point, there is a big difference between merely obtaining "formal support" and the warm and nurturing "embrace," which I am sure is what "Anonymous... March 27, 2015 at 10:00 AM" was commenting about.

But thanks for playing "Take the splinter out of the other guy's eye, while ignoring the Sequoia in one's own"....

Let me give some advice not jibberish to the Gentile camp. An endorsement on a piece of paper or speaking at a kickoff event at the SI Dem HQ is a whole lot different than Cusick who by the way is a Democrat district leader and Savino a member of the county committee say hosting a fundraiser for Vinnie, or say them personally campaigning for Vinnie.

The Gentile camp should also be reminded that Mike Cusick is a Farrell High school graduate just like Andy Lanza, Jimmy Oddo, Vito Fossella, Mike McMahon, and none other than Dan Donovan.

Farrell High school graduates tend to support each other, it's an unwritten rule, and that's how Staten Island politics tends to work as a whole, Vinnie Gentile and his staff i hate to break it to them are outsiders in that world.

The Gentile camp should spend less time worrying about irrelevant figures and more time on getting elected officials in there own party to support them stronger then they are now, just some friendly advice.

We have waited several days for YOUR SECOND THOUGHTS about your article above, since you told us and everybody else that you were having second thoughts. I guess you decided to keep those thoughts to yourself. So think about this --

A campaign spokesperson speaks for the candidate, the spokesperson doesn't speak for himself or herself. I wonder, Gale, if you will single-out Jessica Proud in a future post for things that she's done in Donovan’s campaign.

It was silly for you to suggest that any particular person involved in the Gentile Campaign was behind the whole race-baiting story. As the Barkan story in the Observer on March 19, 2015 shows, as far as the Gentile Campaign is concerned, everything started with the Dan Donovan email. The copy of that email - published by you in your comments above - clearly shows that. Also, none of the things claimed in the Donovan email have been documented by the Donovan campaign.

Regardless, Gale, for you to suggest Councilman Vincent Gentile is tight with Al Sharpton, the National Action Network and Occupy Wall Street is absurd and you shoul know it -- certainly by now.

This whole Donovan email trick is and was a page torn out of the NRCC's 2014 playbook. The same exact strategy was used against Dom Recchia last fall. You know it and I know it. Also Al Sharpton is on record saying that he doesn't even care what happens in the NY-11 congressional race (see here: http://fw.to/eltD0Ye).

But none of that stopped Donovan and Company from doubling-down on their ridiculous claim that Sharpton was coming to “get them.” The Gentile campaign called it like they saw it — that it was and is blatant race-baiting. Raising the specter of Al Sharpton on Staten Island, Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst shows that they’re only looking to do one thing.

Let's not kid ourselves that Donovan’s fund raising e-mail is anything but an intentionally inflammatory campaign tactic; and it is part of a bigger campaign strategy to keep race problems as a major issue in the campaign.

I think what really should concern leaders in Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst and the entire 11th Congressional district is the reality that race baiting and the stirring up of racial division actually works. Donovan is feeding into a level of racism that exists among the voters in this area of Brooklyn and Staten Island. It is no different from the worst pockets of racism in the deep South. It is a shame that as a politician Donovan would use this to win an election. It is a campaign tactic of the lowest form and it is being done knowingly. But the sadder part of this is that it is evidence of a racism that so obviously permeates this part of Brooklyn.I remember how sickened I was when in 2013 the BYR's passed out fliers depicting District Attorney Ken Thompson as a "thug" and a monkey. It was a despicable racist innuendo that the Hynes campaign knowingly utilized. These fliers were distributed only in Bay Ridge because Hynes knew it would appeal to the voters there. It worked. Hynes won the Ridge. Lost everywhere else - but successfully used the Southern strategy in Bay Ridge to fan the flames of white fear. Donovan is doing the same thing. Sadly, it might work for him too.

Sadly, Bay Ridge is visibly changing almost day by day. Changing from what people like Hynes, Golden and Donovan, and even people like Eaton and some of Vinnie Gentile's supporters think/thought it would always be.

Mostly, it was the kind of place that Marty Golden means when he calls it "The best place on earth."

If keeping Bay Ridge that way just a little while longer means repeated doses of what some Democrats and their in-house pro-black race-baters want to call "racism," then it's worth it. Keep it up as long as it works.

About Me

I formerly have commented on various political blogs concerning Republican politics. Although the focus of my political commentary has been on the Brooklyn GOP and other aspects of politics in Brooklyn, I have also posted commentary about national matters.
If you wish to contact Galewyn Massey directly, please, Email to galewynmasban@gmail.com